Henry Neiberlien/Editor in Chief
After almost 16 years and over 80 successful launches, the Arianespace Ariane 5 has broken its win streak after failing to place its two payloads into their desired orbits. Ariane 5 flight VA241 which was carrying the SES-14 and Al Yah 3 geostationary satellites lifted off from Ariane launch complex 3 at Guiana Space Center on Jan. 25.
The launch appeared flawless until 9 minutes and 26 seconds into the flight when the rocket stopped sending telemetry data after the second stage ignition.
Both customers regained contact with their satellites after a day and confirmed that they were in good health, but they were not placed into their correct orbits to begin service.
The spacecraft ended up into orbits of 21 degrees, far higher than the planned low inclination of 3 degrees that is typical of most geostationary satellites.
SES has said that it will take SES-14 an additional four weeks to correct for this anomaly and Yahsat Al Yah 3 will need a “revised flight plan” to have the spacecraft at its destination later this year. Unfortunately for both companies, the fuel required to correct their orbits will limit the amount of they can use for maintaining their orbit and will shorten their projected useful lifespan.
The Ariane 5 is one of the most reliable launchers currently in use with 92 successful launches under its belt since its introduction in 1996. With its last failure in 2002, the launch vehicle has an unbeaten streak of successes.
Once again commercial space community has learned that even the Ariane is not immune to anomalies. An independent investigation board has been created to work with the European Space Agency to find the cause of the anomaly experience on VA241. Ariane 5 launches have been put on temporary hiatus until the issue can be solved.
Hopefully, Arianespace and the ESA resolve this issue promptly as the medium/heavy launch vehicle has some high profile missions on its manifest. The Ariane 5 is scheduled to launch NASA’s James Webb space telescope in March of next year.
The Ariane 5 scheduled to continue launches until 2021 when the Ariane 6 will replace it.